Save Japan’s Richest Biodiversity and the Dugong! Call for Implementation of IUCN Recommendations and Resolution
For the last 20 years, the Japanese and U.S. governments have been pushing a controversial plan to construct a large U.S. military air base in the area of Henoko and Oura Bay, Okinawa, Japan. In July 2014, the Japanese government began drilling surveys and preparatory works based upon the conclusion of its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that the base will have “no impact” on the environment. The Japanese high court then intervened, and all the survey and construction works have been halted since March 2016 though the Japanese government is trying to resume them.
It is injudicious that the governments have chosen the area as the site for the base construction. The area is one of the richest biodiversity areas in Japan. It is home to over 5,300 marine species including some 260 endangered species. The dugong (Dugong dugon), an endangered marine mammal, Okinawa’s cultural icon, and Japan’s Natural Monument, makes this area the species’ northernmost habitat.
It is inconceivable that the Japanese and U.S. governments insist upon the validity of the EIA’s “no impact” conclusion. The construction of the base involves dumping of 21 million cubic meters of sand and rock (that is 3.5 million truck loads of sand and rock!) into the water. It will be nothing but an environmental disaster. This EIA is an affront to IUCN’s past Recommendation 2.72 and 3.114 and Resolution 4.022, which have called upon the both governments to conduct proper EIA for the construction of the base and to draw conservation plans for the dugong.
We the undersigned call upon the Japanese and U.S. governments to implement IUCN Recommendations 2.72 and 3.114 and Resolution 4.022 to their fullest extent.
We also call upon the governments to implement IUCN’s newly adopted Recommendation “Strengthening pathway management of alien species in island ecosystems” to its fullest extent.
IUCN https://www.iucn.org/
Save the Dugong Campaign Center http://www.sdcc.jp/enew/index.html
The petition site is here
For the last 20 years, the Japanese and U.S. governments have been pushing a controversial plan to construct a large U.S. military air base in the area of Henoko and Oura Bay, Okinawa, Japan. In July 2014, the Japanese government began drilling surveys and preparatory works based upon the conclusion of its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that the base will have “no impact” on the environment. The Japanese high court then intervened, and all the survey and construction works have been halted since March 2016 though the Japanese government is trying to resume them.
It is injudicious that the governments have chosen the area as the site for the base construction. The area is one of the richest biodiversity areas in Japan. It is home to over 5,300 marine species including some 260 endangered species. The dugong (Dugong dugon), an endangered marine mammal, Okinawa’s cultural icon, and Japan’s Natural Monument, makes this area the species’ northernmost habitat.
It is inconceivable that the Japanese and U.S. governments insist upon the validity of the EIA’s “no impact” conclusion. The construction of the base involves dumping of 21 million cubic meters of sand and rock (that is 3.5 million truck loads of sand and rock!) into the water. It will be nothing but an environmental disaster. This EIA is an affront to IUCN’s past Recommendation 2.72 and 3.114 and Resolution 4.022, which have called upon the both governments to conduct proper EIA for the construction of the base and to draw conservation plans for the dugong.
We the undersigned call upon the Japanese and U.S. governments to implement IUCN Recommendations 2.72 and 3.114 and Resolution 4.022 to their fullest extent.
We also call upon the governments to implement IUCN’s newly adopted Recommendation “Strengthening pathway management of alien species in island ecosystems” to its fullest extent.
IUCN https://www.iucn.org/
Save the Dugong Campaign Center http://www.sdcc.jp/enew/index.html
The petition site is here